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Composting Rabbit Waste

anna

Mama Doe
Right, to try and make my wheelie bin lighter when they start charging for collecting my rubbish by weight, I'd decided that I should start composting Ted and Dougal's waste! I've heard it helps to make good compost, but not sure how to go about it! My local council doesn't allow animal/food waste in the green bin!

If I buy a compost bin for the garden, what exactly could I put in it from their waste? I would also put veggie scraps in and bits of garden waste.

They have a thick layer of newspaper, topped with wood shavings and plenty of hay (most of which is eaten). I've not been using much shavings recently, since they brough in the wheelie bin collections in my area, to try and reduce what I throw away. Now winter is coming and I'm getting so worried about them getting cold if they have less bedding.

How long does it take to break down, and when can you start using it in your garden?
 
I've been told rabbit poo and sawdust burn fantastically, so I think the best thing to do is dry it out, compact it into a block and sell it to make your fortune!! :lol: Failing that, I dump all their waste in my compost but haven't had it long enough to find out how long it all takes to break down.
 
I always compost my rabbits droppings,you can compost the lot straw including.i have some lovely compost now although its been brewing as such for a year,i put in all sorts heres the list

What you can compost
‘Greens’


Grass cuttings (in small quantity and mix with dryer materials)
Old bedding plants and flowers
Plant remains (including cut flowers and houseplants)
Fruit and vegetable scraps (not cooked)
Poultry manure
Horse manure
Seaweed
‘Browns’

Tea bags
Coffee grounds
Egg shells
Dried grass
Straw and hay
Wood ash
Hamster, rabbit, guinea-pig bedding
Cardboard (cereal boxes, egg boxes and corrugated board, torn up)
Tissue paper (shredded)
Hair (human or animal)
Small amounts of wool or cotton

What you cannot compost:
Meat and fish (takes too long to decompose)
Fats and oils
Dairy products
Disposable nappies
Cat litter (can contain parasites)
Dog faeces (can contain parasites)
Perennial weed roots or seed heads
Diseased plants
Soot or coal or coke ash (can contain heavy metals)
Vacuum cleaner dust (can contain heavy metals)
Synthetic materials such as plastics
Woody tree branches (and most hedge clippings)
The end result
After a few months you should find the older materials in the heap have turned into a brown crumbly, soil-like compost. A good compost should not smell and the individual components should no longer be distinguishable.

Essentials for a good compost
Heat
Water
Air
Mixture of materials (both the Greens and the Browns from the list above)
Activator, use manure (horse, rabbit and hamster) or an activator from a garden centre
 
Brilliant idea!
I use a fair bit of sawdust ..i'm guessing that its compostable :?
Now to get a compost bin, no more trekking through the house dropping hay everywhere with a massive bin liner getting shouted at by mum.
 
My in-laws swear by this wood chipper they bought - apparently you can shove woody branches and prunings through and it makes them small enough to compost - they have massively cut down on tip runs! I can't wait to get my compost bin set up - never had room in my old house but the new garden is so much bigger I actually have choices on where to put it.

We do have a brown bin for compostable waste here which at the moment is full to bursting with piles of stuff nearby waiting to go in it so at least it is getting recycled but it seems a shame for the nutrients to go elsewhere when I could use them!

Caz
 
Our council accepts animal bedding etc. so they get poop, straw and woodshavings from my two. I fill a wheelie bin with it every week they produce so much poop. :lol: As they take it away, I'm not sure how long it takes to rot down though.
 
mm mines still in the shed..gardens not available for it just yet! my old house i had one..took about a year with sawdust..with wood flour pellets and hay etc its quicker bout 8 months or so im told..i need mine up asap!

tip..place bin in as much full sunlight as it can get and put balls of newpaper betwen the layers every now and then..
if you cant have a bin use black bin bags with holes punched in them and put them on soil in sun and 8 months on you have compost!

with berties massive poos itd go quicker i reckon as bunny poo is a wonderful composting acelarant!! :shock:
 
Twilightpagan - I looove ur siamese's, that pic is so cute! I must admit I don't like them very much after being scared for life by one (O was at someones house and was stroking it 4 ages and it was purring and stuff, then I went to pick it up on2 my lap and it went mad! - i suppose it was kinda my fault too) but anyway, I think ur 2 could change my mind!

I was considering buying what my council call a 'green cone' for their waste, as I dont have a proper big garden to use compost in once it was made! The cone has 1 be dug down slightly in2 the soil, and the stuff goes staright in under the lawn, but I wasnt sure though as it says can take 'pet waste' but doesnt specify what
 
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